Hi,
I read this thread and really wasn't going to respond because I've been on the other end of those calls so my perspective is a bit skewed :^) But after some thought I felt perhaps it might help with the frustrations some SLers have experienced. (No I don't work for LLAbs but I've been a customer service rep for many years in multiple industries. I must like abuse lol)
FYI, these tips apply to any services which you may need to call/contact for any type of customer service such as utilities, ISP, TV, cable, cellular...not just Second Life.
1. There are several "teams" within any large service provider and not all teams have the same level of training, access or policies. Teams have scripts they MUST follow which use trigger words that tell the advisor what response is appropriate. 95% of the time the scripted solution is the correct one and a user's issue is quickly resolved. It's the other 5% where things can get mucked up but a knowledgable user can get moved to the next level of service if they know what trigger words to say and be persistent.
2. Many service providers have outsourced to 3rd party contractors in non-English countries such as India and the Philippines so there is a very definate language barrier to overcome. While they may speak/type excellent English they don't always understand idiomatic slang or colloquilisms that we use and this can create more confusion or delays. Be clear and consise when describing the problem and be prepared to repeat as many times as needed until you get the information you want or get to the team that can resolve the issue.
3. Never expect the same level of service on weekends/holidays as you would receive on standard M-F weekdays. Most of the higher level teams are not in site or not available on Sat and Sun even for services which advertise 24/7/365 support. Often there is a skeleton shift of the newest and least trained advisors "on call" so it's generally best to wait until Monday, if you can, to get experienced staff plus the advanced teams are usually available which means your request gets escalated that much faster.
4. Be polite, it costs nothing but can reap amazing benefits. I cannot stress how much smoother and faster things go when a user is polite. Customer Service reps are human beings too and are much more likely to respond to the obviously frustrated but polite user who is persistant. More important, the service rep may be moved to go beyond the defined limits of their team role and research your request to find out exactly which team handles that specific issue. Otherwise it's much easier to simply repeat the script as given and do nothing else. Safer for the advisor because they don't have to defend independant decsions to a team leader after the call ends. Some places will fire a rep for deviating by 1 word from the "allmighty" scripts.
Last tip...service providers can and will flag users' accounts for abusive conduct to advisors which means that every subsquent advisor will see that UserX is "abusive" and that will naturally make them less inclined to assist to the full or be empathetic to him/her. They may say they don't but they ALL do it and the user will never even know they've been flagged. They will still get the resolution in the end but it will take longer and they may have to jump through more hoops to get there...
HTH
StarCat
I read this thread and really wasn't going to respond because I've been on the other end of those calls so my perspective is a bit skewed :^) But after some thought I felt perhaps it might help with the frustrations some SLers have experienced. (No I don't work for LLAbs but I've been a customer service rep for many years in multiple industries. I must like abuse lol)
FYI, these tips apply to any services which you may need to call/contact for any type of customer service such as utilities, ISP, TV, cable, cellular...not just Second Life.
1. There are several "teams" within any large service provider and not all teams have the same level of training, access or policies. Teams have scripts they MUST follow which use trigger words that tell the advisor what response is appropriate. 95% of the time the scripted solution is the correct one and a user's issue is quickly resolved. It's the other 5% where things can get mucked up but a knowledgable user can get moved to the next level of service if they know what trigger words to say and be persistent.
2. Many service providers have outsourced to 3rd party contractors in non-English countries such as India and the Philippines so there is a very definate language barrier to overcome. While they may speak/type excellent English they don't always understand idiomatic slang or colloquilisms that we use and this can create more confusion or delays. Be clear and consise when describing the problem and be prepared to repeat as many times as needed until you get the information you want or get to the team that can resolve the issue.
3. Never expect the same level of service on weekends/holidays as you would receive on standard M-F weekdays. Most of the higher level teams are not in site or not available on Sat and Sun even for services which advertise 24/7/365 support. Often there is a skeleton shift of the newest and least trained advisors "on call" so it's generally best to wait until Monday, if you can, to get experienced staff plus the advanced teams are usually available which means your request gets escalated that much faster.
4. Be polite, it costs nothing but can reap amazing benefits. I cannot stress how much smoother and faster things go when a user is polite. Customer Service reps are human beings too and are much more likely to respond to the obviously frustrated but polite user who is persistant. More important, the service rep may be moved to go beyond the defined limits of their team role and research your request to find out exactly which team handles that specific issue. Otherwise it's much easier to simply repeat the script as given and do nothing else. Safer for the advisor because they don't have to defend independant decsions to a team leader after the call ends. Some places will fire a rep for deviating by 1 word from the "allmighty" scripts.
Last tip...service providers can and will flag users' accounts for abusive conduct to advisors which means that every subsquent advisor will see that UserX is "abusive" and that will naturally make them less inclined to assist to the full or be empathetic to him/her. They may say they don't but they ALL do it and the user will never even know they've been flagged. They will still get the resolution in the end but it will take longer and they may have to jump through more hoops to get there...
HTH
StarCat
And just a tangent question for my own benefit: is there a way of asking what the keywords are the system recognizes? I tried essentially that once before when I was having a great deal of trouble getting my problem across cuz I didn't know the right terms. The CS person got very irate with me for asking
is that a taboo? Is there a "proper" way of asking if there is a list of keywords to choose from?
If it helps then it's all good.